ISSF World Cup: Bronze finish for Rudrankksh Patil

PTI

Bhopal, March 24

Rudrankksh Patil won bronze in the men’s 10m air rifle, his second of the tournament, even as China extended their golden run at the ISSF World Cup by winning both the gold medals on offer for the second consecutive day here.

Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Sheng Lihao of China won gold in the men’s 10m air rifle while compatriot Huang Yuting, a double gold medallist at the Cairo World Championships last year, won the women’s 10m air rifle gold.

China maintained their top position on the medal table at the end of Day 3 with five gold, one silver and two bronze. India are second with three bronze medals to go with one gold and one silver.

Patil clinched bronze from what at one point seemed a lost cause. He shot a solid 631.0 in qualification to finish fourth after leading in the initial stages. In the 25-shot top-eight ranking round, he was well outside the medal positions till the third five-shot series, before a fantastic fourth series, in which he shot the highest score of 53.5, brought him back into contention.

Meanwhile, the three Chinese qualifiers — Sheng (who led throughout the ranking round), silver medallist Du Linshu and Yu Haonan — were on course to make it a Chinese sweep till the 20th shot.

Rudrankksh went into the fifth series 0.8 behind Yu. He then shot 52.6 in the series as Yu faltered, posting 51.5 to finish fourth. The Indian confirmed his second medal in two days and his fourth ISSF World Cup podium overall.

He finished with a score of 262.3 as Sheng and Du moved into the gold medal match with scores of 264.2 and 263.3, respectively.

The all-China gold medal contest was also a close one with Sheng prevailing 17-13 in the end.

Ramita finishes fourth

India had only one top-eight finisher in Ramita in the women’s 10m air rifle event as she shot 632.3 to finish second among the medal contenders in the 52-strong field. The top-eight had two Chinese, two Americans and one shooter each from Romania, Israel and Kazakhstan, besides hosts India.

China’s Huang was in ominous form, topping the qualifications with a score of 632.8. USA’s Mary Tucker, a Tokyo Olympics silver medallist in the mixed team event, also made it through in seventh place.